The invention relates to an apparatus for treatment with light for personal care, comprising a housing in which a light source is present and which is covered with a wall made from a translucent material, on which wall a focusing area is present to which a user""s eyes are mainly directed, and on which wall side areas are present adjoining the focusing area such that at least a portion of the wall has a reference brightness during use.
A treatment with light contributes, for example, to combating a lack of energy related to the quantity of daylight. It is known that people experience a lack of energy when it is autumn or winter. This lack of energy was found to be related to the reduced quantity of daylight on an autumn or winter day compared with the quantity of daylight on a summer day. It was also found that this lack of energy can be combated in that the persons who are sensitive to this decrease in the quantity of daylight are regularly brought into the immediate vicinity of a light source which radiates artificial daylight with a high brightness.
An apparatus for treatment with light for personal care as described above is known from DE 44 33 291 A1.
The known apparatus comprises a housing with a wall made from a translucent material, i.e. consisting of a structured transparent synthetic resin material. A light source is furthermore present in the housing with lamps, said lamps being daylight fluorescent lamps. These lamps have a high brightness and are designed for the treatment of a lack of energy related to the quantity of daylight. The wall made from translucent material has a focusing area on which a user""s eyes are mainly focused during use, and side areas adjoining the focusing area. During use, the user watches the wall transmitting the bright light emitted by the lamps during a certain time, which contributes to an improvement of his or her energy. It is a disadvantage of the known apparatus that the high brightness of the illuminated wall is sometimes experienced as unpleasant by the user, which detracts from the comfort of use.
It is an object of the invention to provide an apparatus of the kind mentioned in the opening paragraph which also achieves an effective treatment with light, but which has an improved comfort of use.
The above object is achieved with an apparatus according to the invention which is characterized in that a means is present for varying a brightness of the focusing area of the wall during use between the reference brightness and a minimum brightness which is lower than the reference brightness. The reference brightness of the wall during use is dependent on the type of light source used for the treatment. The reference brightness of the wall is determined by the luminous intensity of the light source when the apparatus is used for counteracting the lack of energy related to the quantity of daylight. It is possible through the measure mentioned above on the one hand to set the brightness of the focusing area comparatively low during use of the apparatus in relation to that of the side areas, which have the reference brightness. As a result, the side areas of the wall will have a brightness suitable for counteracting the lack of energy during use, and the quantity of light required for this counteracting can reach the user""s eyes. The focusing area of the wall, furthermore, is present as a comparatively dark area between the brightly illuminated side areas in the field of view of the user who watches the focusing area on the wall during use. In this manner, counteracting of the lack of energy related to the quantity of daylight is still achieved, while watching the wall is pleasant for the user because he or she does not watch one area of uniform brightness. In addition, the user may thus adjust the brightness of the focusing area of the wall to suit his or her personal preference, so that a relation between the dark area and the bright areas on the wall is realized which is as pleasant as possible for him or her. All this benefits the comfort of use of the apparatus.
On the other hand, it is possible in this manner to give the apparatus an additional function. It becomes possible to use the apparatus as a lighting device in that the brightness of the focusing area is set such that it is equal to the brightness of the side areas. In fact, the wall thus forms a surface of uniformly distributed brightness, which is indeed favorable and desirable for lighting purposes and is not experienced as unpleasant by users, because the apparatus is not watched directly for a longer period.
An embodiment of an apparatus according to the invention is characterized in that the light source comprises lamps, and said means comprises a device for the displacement of at least one lamp from a first position, in which the relevant lamp is present adjacent the focusing area, into a second position, in which the relevant lamp is present adjacent one of the side areas. If the relevant lamp has been displaced in this manner from a position adjacent the focusing area into a position adjacent a side area by means of the device, a comparatively dark region will arise in the focusing area of the wall during use. The brightness of the focusing area is thus varied in a practical and effective manner, while the total light output of the apparatus does not change.
A further embodiment of an apparatus according to the invention is characterized in that said means comprises at least one reflector which is displaceable relative to the light source. The reflector is displaceable such that the light rays from the light source are reflected towards the focusing area and to the side areas by the reflector when the reflector is in a first position, and to the side areas when the reflector is in a second position. The focusing area is thus comparatively dark with the reflector in its second position. The brightness of the focusing area can be varied in that the reflector is adjusted to a position between the first and the second position, whereby the light rays are variably deflected. It can be realized by means of this device that a variable brightness of the focusing area of the wall is again easily achieved during use, while the total light output of the apparatus also remains the same.
A further embodiment of an apparatus according to the invention is characterized in that the light source comprises lamps, and said means comprises a dimming device for reducing the luminous intensity of at least one lamp present in the housing adjacent the focusing area of the wall during operation. The brightness of the focusing area can again be easily varied with respect to the reference brightness in this manner, while the construction of the apparatus is very simple.